"Whatcha readin'?"

Without raising his eyes from the page, Sam opened his mouth to answer, only to have Dean cut him off with a raised hand.

"Nevermind; I don't really want to know. Whaddaya say we hop on those four-wheelers out there, Sam?" He slapped his little brother on the thigh, trying to draw his gaze. Or an eye roll, or an irritated glare. Anything that broke the spell that the damned book had on him would do.

Sam's brow was furrowed, focus marred but unbroken. "Maybe later."

Dean groaned, throwing himself back in the deck chair dramatically. "Come on, Sam! You get to read all the time!" The whine in his voice made him sound like the younger brother for once. "This is a vacation! We're supposed to be doing vacation things!"

Sam looked up, keeping his novel open. "'Vacation things', Dean? Do you even know what those are?"

"Yeah!" He sounded mildly offended. "They're the things you can't do when you're not on vacation. Like ride four wheelers and meet hot chicks." He flashed his best carefree and lascivious grin.

Sam's eye roll ended on the words lying in wait on his lap. "You chase hot chicks all the time. You don't need me for that."

Dean shifted, a tenuous disquiet clouding his sunrise like the threat of snow. "Okay, I won't try to pick up a girl." His face brightened once more. "But I can help you bag one! That isn't something you normally do!" He held his hands out in a winner's flourish. "Voila! Vacation-y!"

Sam sighed, lowering his book so that the words were smothered against his chest. "I don't want or need your help getting girls, Dean."

The older sibling read his brother's signals and knew that his prey was starting to weaken. "Please, Sam?" His voice was quiet, all trace of playfulness gone.

Sam held his gaze, searching.

He found what he was looking for in the flash of guilt-edged pain that Dean turned away to hide.

I just don't want to be alone yet. "Nevermind, Sam. I can find something else to do." He got to his feet, and Sam groaned.

"Alright," the younger man conceded, slipping a receipt between pages to mark his place. "Let's go do 'vacation things'."

The brightness of Dean's smile could have rivalled the sun.


They entered the lobby grinning and breathless, riding the wave of adrenaline brought on by an impromptu race down the mountain that both brothers agreed had ended in a draw.

"Four wheelers are awesome."

"Better than the Impala?"

The look Dean shot his brother was nothing short of scandalized. "'Course not! But they are a close second."

Sam laughed. "Agreed."

"Hey, why don't you use that big brain of yours to figure out a way to talk Dad into getting a pair? Be great on - " he shot a look around the sparsely populated lobby, lowering his voice as he finished -"hunting trips."

A guilty shift of the eyes was the only indication Sam gave that he'd caught the reference to Dean and their father hunting as a duo in the near future. "I'll get right on that, Big Brother."

Dean flashed another high-watt smile, patting his sibling on the shoulder. "Awesome!" His eyes swept the lobby, taking in everything: the people, the furnishings. Exits, stairwells, windows, bank of elevators. Rack of brochures advertising local attractions. Signs naming the functions of the various desks scattered around the periphery of the space.

A backhand slap landed on Sam's chest before an attached digit pointed, directing the younger man's gaze. "Guest Services." Dean looked to his brother, a familiar expression of anticipatory licension broadening his smile. "Let's go see if we can get serviced."

"Vacation things, Dean," Sam chided, earning yet another wicked grin from his older sibling.


The brunette's head was bowed as the young men approached, her attention absorbed by the sheets in front of her.

Dean leaned one long, muscular forearm on the counter, deliberately placing himself within her peripheral vision.

The young woman's response was as predictable as the sunrise: first a startle, followed by a dilation of pupils, brief flare of nostrils, flick of a nervous tongue over dry lips, and a pink flush starting at the collar of her shirt before working its way up.

The glow of interest in Dean's groin was equally predictable.

An impatient huff of breath on the back of his neck was a silent reminder from Sam of what they were there for.

Vacation things, Dean chided himself. Things we don't do when we aren't on vacation.

I haven't done her before.

Things we can do. Me and Sam. Together.

Well, we could -

No. We couldn't. End of discussion.

He toned down the wattage on the 'knock-'em-dead-Dean' smile. "Hi. I'm Dean; this is my brother, Sam. We're here on our first ever family vacation, celebratin' his eighteenth birthday and high school graduation."

She pulled her eyes from Dean's, sweeping them over Sam's face before flicking along what she could see of his body, then returning them to where they had started.

She shifted her feet, brushing a lock of hair over her shoulder. The tip of her tongue appeared briefly, then was gone. "Dean. Sam," she acknowledged, and her body language told Dean that at this point, it was a toss-up as to which brother had the better chance of bedding her. "My name's Alesia. What can I do for you today?"

So many, many things.

"Well, like I said, it's our first vacation." He spread his hands, allowing himself to appear just a little lost. Barely in need of rescue. "We're looking for things to do. Vacation-y things."

An image flashed through his mind of warm sand and hot skin; his fingers deftly sculpting a nude female form; soft flesh tipped with a firm nub filling his mouth; his name a frantic cry on her kiss-bruised lips -

"Things we don't normally do at home," Sam interjected, the needle edge of his irritation popping the bubble on Dean's fantasy.

"Yeah. What he said." Dean shuffled his feet, ostensibly making space for Sam at the desk, but in reality hoping to shift his contorted erection enough to relieve some of the pressure.

Sam stepped forward, conveying his aggravation through the controlled violence in his motions as he shouldered his way past his brother.

Dean smirked.

"Well, we do have a list of activities that we offer." Alesia held a sheet of paper out toward Sam.

Dean snatched it from her hand. "I read; he talks." He smiled at her. "Normally it's the other way around, but we're on vacation." Although his words were directed at her, the snark in his tone was all for Sam.

Her eyebrows dipped, and an uneasy smile failed to cover her confusion.

"He's super smart," Dean recovered, remembering his goal. "Got a full-ride scholarship to Stanford. You don't get that without doing a whole heck of a lot of reading. Right, Sammy?" He slapped his younger brother on the shoulder, allowing pride for his sibling to dominate the moment.

Sam colored. "Dean - "

"What, Sammy? You worked hard. You should be proud of yourself, man." He tipped his head at the speechless client services representative. "Vacation-y things, Sam. Listen up."

Sam cleared his throat, offering an apologetic half-smile to the flustered girl behind the counter. "Sorry. He's…" He twitched one shoulder in a helpless shrug. "He's my older brother."

Alesia's smile relaxed as she found herself back on familiar ground. "I have one of those, too."

The two younger siblings shared a moment, dimples matching dimples as a tentative bond was formed.

Dean noticed, but was careful to keep his attention averted.

C'mon, Sammy! She took the bait, now set that hook!

"So...You're going to Stanford?"

"Yeah. In August." This was comfortable territory for Sam, but he was still unsure of his audience.

Dean's focus tightened, the printed words before him temporarily losing their meaning. August. Two more months. He could see it coming at him like a steam-roller, moving fast.

"Have you visited the campus yet?"

Dean sensed the tension ease in his brother as the girl steered him to increasingly solid footing.

"Oh, yeah, just a couple weeks ago. It was amazing. There was this one library…."


Dean turned, leaning his shoulder blades against the wall, 'Activities' page gripped between the thumb and curled forefinger of each hand.

The letters on the paper blurred, and Dean opened his eyes wide, rolling them to dessicate the slow build of tears before they could spill over and embarrass him.

He gave the list before him more attention than it necessarily warranted, compiling a mental list of possibilities.

Water aerobics. I don't do swim trunks in public, but I might go watch.

Bear claw necklace! Wonder if it's a real bear claw?

Leather bracelet would be cool.

Some guided hikes, sharing of 'settler lore', and a tribute to female country singers all caught Dean's eye.

"Sammy!" He snapped away from the wall, gripping the shoulder of his brother's shirt, tugging excitedly. "Wooden snakes, Sam!"

The younger man jerked loose from his brother's grasp, exasperated. "Wooden snakes?"

"Yeah!" Ignoring his sibling's tone, Dean poked a finger at the page he gripped in his fist. "It's one of the activities! We can paint a wooden snake, Sam!" He turned to Alesia, who had begun to look bemused. "Are they the kind that move? The jointed ones?"

In answer, she reached beneath the counter, settling a toy replica of a coral snake on the smooth surface in front of her. "They are just like this, only unpainted." She maneuvered the tail, and the artificial body undulated.

"Sam!" Dean looked to his brother, eyes wide with a child's fascination and hope.

"Dude: it's a kid's toy!"

"I know, man!" Dean reached out, laying his forefinger on the counter so that the wooden tongue brushed his skin as Alesia animated the creature. "I got you one once. For your birthday, I think. Fourth or fifth."

"It was Christmas, I was six, and that was from you? It said 'from Santa' on it. Thought Dad bought it."

"See!" Dean crowed, eyes still on the wooden toy as he slapped the back of his knuckles against his brother's chest. "You remember! Because it was cool!"

Sam crossed his arms over his chest, scowling with his entire body. "Really?" His voice was sardonic. "You told me it was a baby toy, remember?"

Alesia had removed her hand, leaving Dean to manipulate the serpent, bringing it to life. "Yeah, well, that's because I didn't have one."

He looked up at Sam with the rare vulnerability of a ten-year-old who found nothing but ammunition and spare underwear in his Christmas stocking. "Please, Sammy? Can we make them? Please?"

The brothers locked eyes, and Alesia looked away, inadvertent witness to an exchange that she didn't understand.

"Sure," Sam relented. "We can make the snakes."

"Good!" Alesia beamed at the disarmingly attractive pair. "That's actually one that I lead, and it's free. Just meet back here in a hour."

Dean nudged Sam with his elbow, earning a look of confusion for his troubles.

"Maybe Sam here could get your phone number?" He flashed her a muted version of his panty-dropping grin. "You know: in case we get lost or something. This is a big place."

The girl's cheeks flushed, and her chin dropped fractionally so that when she looked up at Sam, it was through the partial concealment of her eyelashes.

Sam was staring, open-mouthed, waiting for her response, having no clue that she needed confirmation from him.

Dean rolled his eyes internally. Don't need my help getting girls. Riiiiigggghhhhhtt.

He tapped Sam's ankle with the toe of his boot.

"Oh! Yeah, that would be...you know...we're new to the area…." He trailed off, face flaming, and Dean coughed to disguise his chuckle.

"Sure." She held her lower lip between her teeth as she wrote quickly but neatly on another of the activity listings.

Dean watched Sam stare at that lip, and laughter bubbled in his chest. Not gonna send you off to college a virgin, are we, Sam?

And maybe while he's gettin' laid, I can, too. Kinda like doing something together. Different chicks, different rooms or whatever, but in the same time frame. So...it counts. Kinda.

If it meant he got to have sex, Dean would find a way to rationalize it.

"I smell coffee," he broke in, interrupting the soundless exchange of pheromones that was occuring between the brunette and his brother.

"Um," Alesia pulled her eyes away from Sam's with obvious reluctance. "There's a little cafe-type thing through those doors, right next to the pool."

"Awesome." He tugged the elbow of his little brother's sleeve. "C'mon, Sammy. I need java."

He pushed the younger man ahead of him, winking at Alesia over his shoulder as they moved away. "Thanks."

Not just the day, but the entire week glowed with promise.